Animation shows light rail options

Anyone hoping to get a clearer idea of how a light rail line from Northgate to Lynnwood might look can check out some videos on the Sound Transit website.

Three sets of animations are available that show how a train might proceed up I-5. It includes different options for station locations and configurations and alternate routes from I-5 to the Lynnwood park-and-ride lot.

The transportation agency is currently tunneling under Capitol Hill in Seattle to bring light rail from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington by 2016. Plans call for rail to then be extended to Northgate by 2021 and Lynnwood by 2023.

Voters in 2008 authorized the work under a $17 billion sales tax measure that added bus service and also includes extensions of rail into Bellevue and south King County.

The rail line from Northgate to Lynnwood would run mostly along the east side of I-5, with several stations along the way. The total cost of the 8.5-mile line is estimated at $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion.

The potential routes in Lynnwood have drawn opposition. The first option would go through Scriber Creek Park and take out a condominium complex and an office park. Another would take out several businesses. A third would interfere with a city sewage pump station. The city of Lynnwood has developed a fourth option that largely avoids those problems.

The Sound Transit board of directors could choose one of the Lynnwood options for further study as soon as Nov. 21.

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